America's WMD Doctrine: Would It Deter a Nuclear 9/11?

Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, an architect of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, declared that Pakistan’s nuclear bombs are “the property of a whole ummah [worldwide Muslim community],” so that some Muslim nations or groups could use them on infidels to bring about “the end of days” and lead the way for Islam to be the supreme religious force in the world. A.Q. Khan, the former head of Pakistan’s nuclear program, proliferated nuclear bomb-making technology exclusively to Islamic states such as Libya or Iran with just one exception: he transferred this technology to North Korea in exchange for its missile technology for Pakistan.

While Pakistan’s dismal economy survives on handouts from donor nations, it has the fastest-growing nuclear arms buildup in the world. Both the Pakistani state and groups based in it have continued to sponsor the Taliban in Afghanistan and assorted jihadist entities against India. Pakistan’s broad-based commitment to jihad (a religious war directed at conquering land and people for Islam) is reflected in its school syllabus.

The main nation widely thought to be behind the bankrolling of Pakistan’s nuclear buildup is jihadist spearhead Saudi Arabia, from where most hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks originated. Thanks to its likely funding of the Pakistani nuclear program, Saudi Arabia may already have nukes. Saudi Arabia is deeply committed to jihad; inspired by the Koran, here is the call to impose jihad on unbelievers sponsored by the Saudi government:

The Muslims are required to raise the banner of jihad in order to make the word of Allah supreme in this world, to remove all forms of injustice and oppression, and to defend the Muslims. If Muslims do not take up the sword, the evil tyrants of this earth will be able to continue oppressing the weak and [the] helpless.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad, whose Islamic nation is well on its way to acquiring nuclear weapons status, has voiced his nation’s apocalyptic intent by declaring that Israel must be “wiped off the map.”

The Islam-based ideologies dictating the outlook of nations such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are invariably gearing them toward the next generation of terror attacks that could very well involve nuclear weapons. Hence, firstly, any nuanced analysis of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation prevention and beyond has to comprehensively counter these ideologies. Secondly, it is critical that the stated American WMD doctrine should act as a strong deterrent.